4 Stocks to Buy for the Next Global Boom

Right now there's a scramble playing out underneath the market that almost nobody is talking about, a fight for the raw metals that everything else gets built from.

Artificial intelligence can't scale without copper. Our fighter jets and the planes overhead are built from aluminum. The factories coming back to American soil get poured from steel. And when governments get nervous, they reach for gold, which is why central banks are hoarding it at the fastest pace since the 1950s.

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Here's the setup that makes this a generational trade: demand for all four is climbing into a wall of tight supply, because new mines take over a decade to build. The money is legislated, the demand is real, and most investors are looking the other way.

So we ran the entire space through our Zen Ratings quant model, and it flagged 4 stocks sitting right at the center of it. Stick around to the end, the highest-rated name of the bunch, a top 2% stock, is saved for last.

1- Teck Resources (TECK)

Let's get the party moving with the metal that kicked off this whole conversation, copper. The most complete way to own it on this list is Teck Resources (TECK).

Teck is a Canadian mining giant, and copper is its future. Goldman Sachs once called copper the new oil, and the math behind that has not changed, every electric vehicle, every data center, every grid upgrade eats piles of the stuff, while new supply crawls online. And here's the timing, the copper market is tipping toward a supply deficit just as that demand ramps up, exactly the backdrop a big low-cost producer wants. Teck is built for that moment. It spun off its coal business to become a cleaner, investment-grade copper and zinc pure play, and its big growth projects, like the Highland Valley mine-life extension, are advancing to pump out years of new copper production right into that gap.

On the side it also runs one of the largest zinc operations on earth, where margins have jumped sharply over the past year. So you get the metal at the center of the whole trend, through one of the steadiest operators in the business.

Here is what stands out. Teck has now beaten Wall Street's earnings estimates 9 quarters in a row. A streak like that is earnings momentum, and earnings momentum has a way of bringing more beats ahead. Each one tends to pull in fresh buyers and push Wall Street's estimates higher, which is often what lifts a stock over time.

Now for our Zen Ratings quant model. It analyzes every stock across 115 different fundamental, technical, and AI factors, then boils the whole thing down to one intuitive letter grade from A to F. It also breaks out 7 Component Grades, Value, Growth, Momentum and more, to show exactly where a stock is strong and where it is not.

Teck earns an overall B, a Buy recommendation, and its overall fundamentals put it in the top 11% of every stock we track. Its AI grade sits in the top 21%, and that one measures the likely future timeliness of shares, not how much AI the company sells. Sentiment is better still in the top 9%, which is the Smart Money crowd moving into shares. And the standout is Momentum, top 8%, in plain English, timely shares, already in motion. Add it up and the model is painting a timely copper major with the smart money already moving in.

The one thing to keep in mind, Teck's fortunes ride on the copper and zinc price, and those can swing hard in either direction.

Still, if copper really is the new oil, Teck is a direct line into the trade, the perfect name to kick things off.

Speaking of being early, the next pick is a metal most investors forget is even on the critical list, and it just pulled back hard enough to be a gift.

2- Century Aluminum (CENX)

The next pick is all about buying a great company on sale, Century Aluminum (CENX).

Aluminum belongs on every critical minerals list, EVs, the power grid, defense hardware, packaging, yet America barely makes its own anymore. Century is a rare US primary producer. It just teamed up with Emirates Global Aluminium on the first new primary aluminum smelter on US soil since 1980, it's restarting idled capacity at Mt. Holly, and it wins directly from the tariffs keeping foreign metal out.

Here's the gift. Shares recently sold off and now change hands nearly 50% below their highs. For a company this cheap and this profitable, that's a discount, not a warning.

And the business underneath is on fire. New capacity is landing just as tariffs squeeze supply, and Century has beaten Wall Street's estimates two quarters running.

Wall Street sees it rolling on. Revenue is forecast to grow about 2.5 times faster than the industry, and earnings are forecast to grow almost 35% a year, roughly 4 times faster than the aluminum industry.

Growth at this price is even better. Shares carry a PEG of just 0.19, they could rally several times over and still be cheaper than the average stock near 1.5. Add a P/E around 6, and you see why the Value grade is so high.

Wall Street is only starting to wake up, just 3 analysts cover shares. As of this writing, all 3 give Century a Strong Buy recommendation, with fair value targets implying upside of roughly 100% to as much as 130% in the year ahead. The most bullish, Lucas Pipes of B. Riley, ranks in the top 3% of all Wall Street analysts, so when he's pounding the table, it pays to listen.

Our Zen Ratings model likes it too. Century earns an overall B, a Buy recommendation, in the top 11% of all stocks. And the cluster of fundamental strength here is really remarkable. Financial strength lands in the top 4%, the mark of a well-run company. Growth, top 3%. And Value, also top 3%, on 21 different measures.

The one real risk is concentration. Glencore owns roughly 30% of Century and buys a big slice of what it produces, so the two are closely tied.

But a cheap, fast-growing US aluminum champion, freshly on sale, is exactly the kind of name this trend rewards. Consider whether it deserves a spot in your portfolio.

The next pick trades the swings of a smaller miner for the sturdiest name in American metal.

3- Nucor (NUE)

That sturdiest name is Nucor (NUE), the largest steel producer in the United States.

If steel sounds boring for a critical minerals list, look at what it's actually holding up right now, AI data centers, power grids, defense plants, and the wave of factories being built back on American soil. Tariffs are keeping foreign steel out, demand is landing from every direction at once, and Nucor is executing right into it. No one is better placed to cash in. Nucor is the largest and most diversified steelmaker in the country, and North America's biggest recycler, turning out the sheet, plate, and beams that go straight into those data centers, grids, and factories. When a megaproject needs American steel, odds are Nucor is making it.

The proof is in the numbers. Nucor has notched 2 earnings beats in a row, in which they blew EPS estimates out of the water.

And shares still trade at a forward P/E around 11, downright modest for a company earning like this. Here's the kicker with a low-cost operator like Nucor, when steel prices firm up, profits tend to climb much faster than sales, so the upside builds on itself.

Wall Street is firmly on board. Of the 11 analysts covering Nucor, 7 give it a Strong Buy recommendation.

Our Zen Ratings model agrees in a big way. Nucor earns an overall A, a Strong Buy recommendation, in the top 5% of every stock we track. This one is strong almost everywhere you look. Its AI and Safety grades both land in the top 18%, Growth in the top 17%, Financial strength in the top 11%, and the standout, Momentum, in the top 8%.

The one caution here is the cycle. Nucor's demand is tied to US building and manufacturing, and to the tariff protection in place today, so a sharp slowdown or a policy shift could cool the pace.

Even so, if America is rebuilding itself, it's doing it with Nucor's steel, the anchor of this entire list.

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4- Sibanye-Stillwater (SBSW)

Drumroll please, the final pick is Sibanye-Stillwater (SBSW), and it's the highest rated name on today's entire list.

Gold is the one critical mineral the central banks are hoarding themselves, buying at the fastest pace since the 1950s. When the people who print the money are stockpiling gold, it stops behaving like a commodity and starts behaving like insurance. Sibanye mines that gold, plus the platinum-group metals that run catalytic converters and hydrogen fuel cells, so it stands on two legs of this trend at once.

The business just posted a record first half, with earnings up more than triple versus the year before, all while slashing its debt to a fraction of what it used to carry.

Even better, this top-rated name has sold off hard, it's trading more than 50% below its 52-week high.

So this one can be grabbed at a forward P/E under 3, and for a profitable, growing miner, that's about as cheap as it gets.

As you'd expect for an overseas miner, Wall Street has barely shown up, only 3 analysts cover shares. As of this writing, every one of their fair value targets sits above today's price, implying roughly 20% to nearly 50% upside in the year ahead, and Citigroup just initiated coverage at a Strong Buy recommendation. On a name this under-followed, each new analyst stepping in is one more potential catalyst.

Our Zen Ratings model loves it too. Sibanye earns an overall A, a Strong Buy recommendation, in the top 2% of all stocks. Walk the strong grades: Financial strength lands in the top 9%. Growth sits just ahead of it in the top 8%, which foreshadows more earnings beats. Then comes the standout, Value, in the top 1%, based on 21 different value measures. Put it together and you have a dirt cheap miner firing on its two most important grades, growth and financial strength.

The one knock worth flagging: Sibanye carries more debt than a typical miner, and it has a legal dispute working through the courts in the background.

But step back and take in the whole picture, the highest-rated stock on this list, cheaper than 99% of the market, on the one metal the world's central banks cannot stop buying. That's why it was saved for last, and why it may deserve a serious look for your portfolio.

In Closing… 

So there are 4 ways to play the critical minerals boom, copper through Teck, aluminum through Century, American steel through Nucor, and gold plus the platinum metals through Sibanye. Supply is tight, demand keeps climbing, and windows like this have a way of closing faster than anyone expects, so if any of these caught your eye, it pays to do your homework soon.

Remember, the Zen Ratings are updated every single day. You can pull a free rating on over 4,600 stocks yourself just by typing in a ticker at wallstreetzen.com, so be sure to bookmark the site while you're there.

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